Rug scrubbing machines with foaming devices



Oct. 14, 1969 C. v v. SMITH ETAL 3,471,886

RUG SCRUBBING MACHINES WITH FOAMING DEVICES Filed Feb. 10. less {39 Ill ll i INVENTOR.

Charles W. Smithv and Remyv J. Lochut United States Patent 3,471,886 RUG SCRUBBING MACHINES WITH FOAMING DEVICES Charles W. Smith, Chester, N.J., and Remy J. Lachat, Wellesley, Mass, assignors to The Singer Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 10, 1966, Ser. No. 526,627 Int. Cl. A471 11/34 US. CI. 15-50 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A foaming device for a scrubbing and shampooing machine comprising a sponge ring secured to the chassis of the machine responsive to cam means carried by the ratating brush, which alternately squeezes and relaxes the sponge ring thereby resulting in the production of foam. Liquid detergent is disposed evenly to the sponge ring by means of a cup carried on the top surface of the rotating brush for receiving the liquid and provided with at least one hole in the cup wall so that the liquid will be thrown outward therefrom to the sponge ring at the optimum point of absorption while the brush is rotating.

Summary This invention relates to the art of scrubbing and shampoonng carpets, rugs and other articles, and more particularly to the provision of means for generating foam and dispensing the same on a rug, carpet or other surface, and one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide an improved device of this character.

Another object of the inevntion is to provide an improved means for injecting a detergent or other liquid into the edge of a plastic foam ring.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved means for injecting a detergent or other liquid into a plastic foam ring when the foam ring is in a relaxed position.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

Brief description of the drawings In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially on the center line of a foam producing rug scrubbing or shampooing machine embodying the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a reduced scale plan view taken on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing certain parts of the rug scrubbing or shampooing machine shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring more specifically to the drawings, the invention has been illustarted as comprising a scrubbing or shampooing machine 16 of the same general type as that shown in United States Patent No. 3,224,023 issued Dec. 21, 1965. The machine 16, in addition to having an unshown propelling handle and an unshown container for a detergent or other liquid, comprises a chassis 17 the upper surface of which supports an electric motor 18 having a depending shaft 19 carrying a pinion 21. The pinion 21 drives one gear of a double idler gear assembly 22-23 which in turn drives a gear 24 forming part of a train of gears ice 26, 27 and 28. Gears 26 and 28 are respectively mounted on the upper ends of and arranged to drive a pair of identical vertically disposed drive shafts 31-31, the lower ends of which drives brushes of identical rug scrubbing or shampooing units 32-32. The motor 18, the chassis 17, and parts of the units 32-32 are covered by an appearance housing 30.

Each shampooing unit 32 includes a rotary brush 35 having a hub 33 preferably provided with a known means (not shown) for easily connecting and disconnecting the hub 33 to and from one of the shafts 31. The lower end of the hub 33 is attached to the upper surface of a brush block 34 having an external concentric cylindrical rim 36, and a lower planar surface 37, which is perpendicular to the axis of the hub 33 and from which depend a plurality of bristles 38. The block 34 also has an upper planar surface 39 which forms an angle with the axis of the hub 33. Thus the block 34 is in the form of a truncated cylinder and is so constructed and arranged that when the said block 34 is mounted on and driven by the shaft 31 the upper surface 39 wobbles so as to function as a face cam. The upper surface 39 of the block 34 in addition to mounting the hub 33 mounts a concentric cylindrical ring 41, it being noted that the upper end of the ring 41 is parallel with the lower surface 37 of the block 34 and that the lower\ end of the ring 41 is parallel with and secured to the upper surface 39 of the block 34. In other words, the ring 41 is a truncated cylindrical tube and thus has both a long and a short side. The long side of the ring 41 is provided with an exhaust port 42. A concentric cylindrical spacer 43 is carried on the upper end of the hub 33 with the result that the spacer 43, the ring 41, the external surface of the hub 33 and a portion of the upper surface 39 forms a ported cup 40 the purpose of which will presently appear.

Secured below the lower surface 44 of the chassis 17 there is positioned an aluminum plate 45 formed with holes 46, 47, 48 and 49. Holes 46 and 49 accommodate the shafts 3131, and the holes 47 and 48 accommodate thrust bearing supports 56, 57 for the lower ends of the shafts which carry gears 24 and 27. The plate 45 also has a plurality of small holes 58 for accommodating screws serving to attach the plate 45 to the housing 30.

A pair of annular foam rings 61-61 are secured in any suitable manner, as for example by gluing, to the lower surface of the plate 45. These two rings 61-61, which may be made of sponge rubber or other suitable material, are located so as to be concentric with the two shafts 31-31.

An annular plastic, preferably Plexiglas, disk 62 is secured in any suitable manner, as for example by gluing, to the lower surface of each of the foam rings 61. The foam rings 61-61, before they are assembled into the shampooing machine 16 are preferably of such a shape that a radial cross-section taken through one of the rings would be a rectangle (FIG. 3), however, when the foam rings with their disks 62 are assembled between the lower surface of the plate 45 and the upper surfaces 39-39 of the brush blocks 34-34, they are in the form of truncated cylindrical rings (FIG. 1).

A liquid supply tube having a main 71 and two branches 72-72 conducts detergent or other liquid from a com tainer (not shown) into the two cups 40-40 formed by the rings 41-41.

In operation, the electric motor 18, by means of the pinion 21 and gears 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, causes the pair of shafts 31-31 to rotate in opposite directions and a liquid detergent is fed to the cups 40-40. As the brush blocks 34 rotate their upper surfaces causes the disks 62- 62 to wobble and thus alternately squeeze and relax portions of the foam rings 61-61. At the same time detergent in the cups 40-40 is forced by centrifugal force to pass through the ports 4242 and to enter the inner edge of the foam rings 61--61. It should be noted that the ports 42-42 rotate with the blocks 3434 whereas the foam rings 61-61 do not rotate. Because of this and because the ports 4242 are located in the long sides of the rings 4141, the ports will continuously inject liquid into relaxed or expanded portions of the foam rings 6161. Then, as the rings 6161 are alternately squeezed and relaxed, the liquid detergent becomes foam which is squeezed out of the ring 61 and deposited on the rug or carpet being cleaned by the bristles 38.

Having thus described the nature of the invention, that which We claim herein is:

1. A scrubbing and shampooing machine comprising in combination a non-rotatable chassis member, a vertically disposed drive shaft extending downwardly from said chassis member, a rotary plate member driven by the lower end of said shaft and mounted to rotate in spaced relationship to a portion of said chassis member, a sponge carried by one of said members, a washer-shaped wobble plate positioned adjacent to one surface of said sponge, cam means carried by the other of said members and having a portion thereof positioned to engage the surface of said wobble plate thereby to alternately compress and relax the sponge, liquid receiving and distributing means comprising a cup carried by said rotary plate member, said cup being so constructed and arranged as to receive the liquid and distribute the same to said sponge in its relaxed position after compression.

2. A scrubbing and shampooing machine according to claim 1 wherein the cup is in the form of a cylindrical tube the bottom end of which is inclined to the top end, thereby to allow the liquid to be dispensed in a substantially even manner to the sponge.

3. A scrubbing and shampooing machine according to claim 2 in which the cup has both long and short sides with the long side of the cup being provided with an exhaust port for controllably dispensing the liquid into the sponge when it is relaxed after compression.

4. A scrubbing and shampooing machine comprising in combination a non-rotatable chassis member, a vertically disposed drive shaft extending downwardly from said chassis member, a rotary plate member driven by th lower end of said shaft and mounted to rotate in spaced relation to a portion of said chassis member, a sponge carried by one of said members, a washer-shaped wobble plate positioned adjacent to one surface of said sponge, cam means carried by the other of said members and comprising a first surface disposed perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the plate member and a second surface disposed at an angle relative to the axis of rotation of the plate member, the second surface having at least a portion thereof positioned to engage the adjacent surface of the wobble plate, the wobble plate being located between the one surface of the sponge and the second surface of the cam means, at least a portion of the sponge being squeezed when the rotary plate member operably is assembled to the drive shaft so that when the rotary plate member rotates the second surface of the cam means operably engages the wobble plate thereby to cause the sponge to be alternately squeezed and relaxed, and a cup carried by one of said members and being so constructed and arranged as to receive liquid and distribute the same to the relaxed portion of the sponge.

5. A scrubbing and shampooing machine according to claim 4 wherein the rotary plate member comprises a brush block having a lower and an upper surface corresponding to the first and second surfaces, respectively, of the cam means, the sponge and the wobble plate being supported in that order from the chassis and the cup being integral with the upper surface of the brush block.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,212,117 10/1965 Ernstberger et a1. 15-50 3,274,632 9/1966 Franklin l529 EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Primary Examiner 

